Shirley’s high street is “in a much better position” this year after last summer’s youth anti-social behaviour left shopworkers afraid to come to work.
Police Constable Tom Byrne, who has been the dedicated “local bobby” for Shirley for a year and a half said his team has learned from last summer’s trouble and is determined not to see a repeat.
He said: “What we don’t want is a repeat of what we had last summer where we had shops feeling unsafe and, you know, staff not being happy to come to work.
“That’s the last thing we want. We want people to feel safe and happy to come to Shirley.”
Shoplifting and youth anti-social behaviour remain the main issues on Shirley High Street, particularly in warmer months, according to PC Byrne.
However, he said reports of problems so far this year have reduced considerably compared with last summer.
“The vast majority [of shops] have seen very little issues with youth ASB to the extent of last year when a lot of shops were feeling unsafe to work,” he said.
PC Byrne said officers regularly patrol the area and are working closely with businesses to identify repeat offenders and respond more quickly to incidents.
He said early intervention with young people and parents has also helped prevent behaviour escalating.
“We don’t want to criminalise children,” he said. “We want to kind of look for ways we can prevent and disrupt them from being involved in criminality.”
Young people involved in lower-level offences can be referred to diversion programmes with partner organisations including the Saints Foundation.
But PC Byrne stressed police would still take tougher action where necessary.
“If we need to arrest people, we will do it,” he said. “We’re not against arresting people and taking them to court.”
The officer also urged shopkeepers and staff to continue reporting incidents to police, even if they feel frustrated by the process.
He said reports help officers identify patterns of behaviour and build stronger cases against repeat offenders targeting multiple businesses.
“If people don’t report it to us, no one else will,” he said.
